


All the Time in the World

by BlackCats



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Birthday Gift Fic, Gen, Pre-Canon, headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-12
Updated: 2014-09-12
Packaged: 2018-02-17 01:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2292551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackCats/pseuds/BlackCats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What use was time to someone who had an eternity?<br/>(Remilia, and Sakuya, and the past.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	All the Time in the World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sophia Izayoi](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Sophia+Izayoi).



The moon was being devoured.

Slowly but surely, dark clouds swarmed across from the horizon and engulfed it, eclipsing its ivory light and drowning it in shadow. The sight was not unlike watching a coin sink deeper and deeper into the pitch-black depths of a very still lake.

A cold wind howled down from the mountains and rattled window shutters throughout the town, scattering leaves across the pavement and filling the air with the sound of skittering. Lights winked out across various houses as its inhabitants settled down for the night. A heavy calm settled into place, in which nothing moved for a time.

However, it wasn’t long before a winged shadow swept with startling speed across the plaza. A shape soon alighted with dazzling delicacy upon an outstretched tree branch, causing its shadow to tremble in fear. Great black wings snapped out once before folding flat upon the back of Remilia Scarlet…vampire.

Red eyes filled with disinterest scanned the area. She casually brushed some dust off of her elaborate clothing as she waited and watched—someone would come. Someone would  _always_ come. Humans weren’t nocturnal but the restless and the weary would wander here—regardless of the hour—for a bit of peace and quiet. She would wait. For a time.

It’d be a shame if she had to drag one of those slumbering fools from their beds just because her intuition was off. That was more exhausting than it was worth; she had to get back to Flandre soon, at any rate.  

A soft groaning rumbled in her ears. Distant. Audible only because of her superior vampiric senses. A regular human would not be able to hear it, hear the racket that stupid clock tower—the town’s pride and joy—made each and every moment as its pendulum swung. Back and forth. Back and forth. The complaining of its wood and gears was going to drive her mad.

What use was time to someone who had an eternity?

Remilia’s ears pricked at a sudden sound. There, in the distance, someone was furiously… _shouting_. She leaned forward in an attempt to hear better and the wind mercifully shifted to carry the sound easily to her.

“You! Get out of there! Go on I said! _Get!_ ”

Her grasp on the language in this part of the world was shaky at times, but she was pretty sure what followed was some kind of phrase to ward off evil. She nearly scoffed at the thought. What, was there another “monster” in town besides just her?

Her question was soon answered. The target of the angry man’s harassment was none other than a little girl—a  _human_ girl. She rounded the bend of a road in a sprint, stumbling, earning nothing but confusion from Remilia as she watched her from her perch.

_Huh? How did she get here so fast? That shouting was coming from across town!_

The girl slowed down, rubbing her arms and glancing over her shoulder. The wind was chilly and her clothing had certainly seen better days. A street rat, or a runaway, it mattered not. She would do.

She didn’t drink that much anyway. She’d take her fill and let Flandre have the rest.

Remilia’s wings stretched open and the sound alerted the girl, who wasted not a moment. She took off.

Or tried to. Really, outrunning someone who could fly was very difficult.

Remilia moved in a blur and snatched the girl’s clothing, hefting her up—

And then their eyes met, and Remilia froze.

The girl’s eyes were…were  _red_ , a nearly impossible shade in humans, and there—there was this  _pull_ —an inexorable tension that felt as if a pressure was building up inside of her. Caught off-guard, Remilia panicked, wings flapping wildly as she dropped her and backpedaled, putting several feet between the two of them; it did nothing to stop the _pull_.

She could see it… _had_ seen it during that brief moment of contact. A future that would come to pass if she let it.

With her. With this girl. The kid with silver hair and a gaze that—behind the fear—held steel as real as the knives she’d glimpsed in that briefest of moments.

Remilia was at a loss. She didn’t know what to think of it.

The girl’s hesitation made her think she had sensed something too, or perhaps she was just frightened. Within the next four seconds she got over it and tried to race off again.

Remilia recovered and flashed over quickly to cut her off.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” She asked with a fanged smile, placing a comradely but firm hand upon the other’s shoulder.

“L-Let me go. Let me _go_.”

“Well I  _would_  but something tells me you’d not stick around to chat if I did.” Remilia kept smiling cheerfully as if this was just the loveliest night of her life. “What’s the matter? Don’t you want to play with me?”

_Bong._

The clock tower began to chime. Deep, echoing booms reverbed throughout the town.

_Bong._

The girl’s shoulders hunched and then—

_B—_

Remilia blinked.

_—ong._

Literally just… _blinked_ , and then the kid was gone. She spun in a startled circle, red eyes sweeping the area, but it was her hearing that once more picked out something of interest.

Running. Again. She couldn’t believe this.

To her credit, the girl didn’t scream too loudly when Remilia caught up to her and casually pushed her against a brick wall, pinning her there with one hand like a cat holding a mouse’s tail. The vampire smiled once more, though her eyes were narrowed with curiosity.

Magic. It had to be. Though this girl was human, wasn’t she? She smelled like it. Heat and blood and sweat and  _fear_.

“Now I wonder; how did you manage that?”

The girl didn’t reply. Her chest was heaving as she fought her panic and struggled for air.

Remilia arched her eyebrows, looking away from her. Upwards.

The moon had broken free of its cloudy tormentors, shining full and bright and proud. Ivory beams caused the kid’s hair to acquire a brilliant shine…not unlike those silver knives Remilia had seen her wielding in a future that could, possibly, someday be.

Her grin acquired a catlike quality even as it turned wry. The vampire turned back to her.

“Do you believe in fate?”

The kid blinked, perplexed. Finally! A reaction besides terror and defiance.

“A lot of people don’t. They think they can make their own destiny or something.” A huff. “They’re stupid and wrong. Okay?”

“Wh-Why do you think that…?”

“Whatever you’re doing—it’s something fate has already preordained. I would know,” she said with more than a hint of smugness.

The chances of the girl running away had become lower. Remilia could tell that the casual tone was relaxing her even if only slightly, and so long as she didn’t run, she wouldn’t have to hold her there. She let go and stepped away, hands folded behind her back.

The girl cast an uneasy peek down the alleyway but didn’t flee. Good.

Remilia waited with a hint of impatience for the inevitable question, rehearsing what she wanted to say in her head.

“…Why would you know?”

There it was! The ten million dollar question. Remilia winked.

“I control fate. I know everything there is to know about it.”

That was an out-and-out lie. Patchouli would have choked on her tea laughing.

“Y-You control…fate? You know why things…are why they are?” The girl’s question sounded oddly hopeful.

Remilia rocked back and forth on her heels. “Hmm…More or less,” was the neutral response.

“Then…Please…I just want to know…” She started wringing her hands and said in a tiny voice, “Why am I cursed…?”

Blink. “…Cursed? You look fine to me.” She didn’t sense any negative magic either.

“But I’m not…Don’t you hear the people here? Haven’t you seen what I can do?”

“I actually haven’t! That’s the problem! I  _never_  see what you’re up to—“

“If I show you, will you tell me why?”

Remilia took a startled step back as the girl moved closer to her, staring with pleading eyes. She looked so… _miserable_ but her voice and eyes were so  _anticipative_. She was desperate for answers, huh? She supposed she could give it her best shot…

Let it not be said that she wasn’t a merciful vampire.

“…All right. Sure,” she said, as if she was only answering to pass time. Which was true. This was new and different and Remilia liked her already.

The girl seemed antsy about how to show her. In the end she pointed to the clock tower, instructing the vampire to pay close attention.

As it ticked away, one of the hands began to move, and midway through a shift to the next number—

The girl moved from her side to all the way across the street, sitting nervously on a bench.

Remilia connected it instantly. She felt foolish for not noticing it before. She fluttered over to her, speaking before she’d even landed on the ground.

“You can stop time!”

A despondent nod.

“But…You’re just a  _human!_ ”

“I know,” she whispered, hands clasped tightly before her. “And now… _you_ know. I-I’m a monster right? A demon?”

The silent  _like you_ hung in the air between them for a moment.

Remilia laughed.

She grinned from ear to pointed ear and started to snicker, not caring that the sound might draw the attention of the snoozing humans all around. She floated back a few steps, arms wrapped around her stomach, giggling away as astonishment dawned upon the girl’s face.

“Oh! Don’t get the wrong idea!” Remilia darted forward suddenly and stared right into the other’s eyes. “Do you know what I’m laughing at?” Her eyes flashed with a dangerous gleam. “The thread of fate that brought you here.”

She whirled, in a colorful rush of European dress and obsidian wings, walking away. Satisfaction swelled inside of her as the girl hurried to catch up, no questions asked. That was  _perfect_.

“Th-The what? What do you me—“

“I  _mean_ ,” Remilia interrupted, lifting one painted fingernail. “I don’t believe in coincidences. You and I met here for a reason, don’t you think? I stopped myself from feeding on you for a  _reason_.”

A gulp. “A-And…What is that?”

Remilia tapped the ground twice with a foot. Somehow the girl knew that meant not to keep following her. She stayed put as the vampire ambled a bit ahead, still within easy talking range, plucking a single flower from the windowsill of a shop.

She eyed it, spinning it by its stem, watching the wind ruffle the delicate white petals. Yes. This would do.

“I’m going to offer you a choice.”

“A…A choice,” she repeated dutifully, hands clenching at her sides.

Remilia smiled. “You can continue to live here. It’ll be as if you never met me. You can go back to whatever life is currently in store for you—isn’t that what you want?”

She was avoiding eye contact. The vampire was intrigued by that.

“Or…I can change your fate, and you can come back home with me as my servant.”

“H-Huh?! I thought you said you couldn’t change fate!”

“Hehe!  _Other_ people can’t, but  _I’m_  the exception. So.” Remilia closed the distance between them once more, taking slow strides, stopping only to offer her the flower. “What do you say…?”

“What…What does being your servant mean…?”

“You’ll just have to find out,” was the teasing reply.

The wind blew again, snaking throughout the gaps in the town, filling the air with the wintery bite of the nearby mountains. Silence reigned.

And then all at once, the flower was gone from Remilia’s hand as the girl took it and nodded. That same steely determination was back in her eyes, no longer buried beneath trepidation.

Remilia’s grin only widened.

“That settles it!” Gathering the corners of her skirt, she curtsied. “I, Remilia Scarlet, am your new master.”

A jittery nod. “I-I’m—“

“Your name doesn’t matter. The first step to changing your fate…is accepting the new one I have for you.”

“A-All right…”

Remilia stiffened as a soft sound floated through the air. Ignoring the bewilderment and curiosity emanating out from her new servant, she turned her head toward the source..

On the porch of a nearby home, a glass wind-chime let loose its ethereal melody, disturbed by the fierce wind. The noise it created was starkly reminiscent of…

_Flandre._

Or rather, her new wings. For a while there she had almost…forgotten…

Remilia’s hands curled into fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms.

Humans were to blame. For  _everything_. Flandre’s torn off wings, her unstable mental state; it was all their fault. It was why they’d moved. To get even farther away from humans, only coming out to hunt, when before she had even…even thought that, maybe, they weren’t  _so bad_ …

What a foolish lapse in judgment.

Was bringing one home with her—no matter how special she was—really a good idea? It’d be inconsiderate towards Flandre and what’s more; she never had a reason to trust a human before.

When Remilia’s gaze returned to the girl’s however, she met her eyes and held it despite the tremors shaking through her shoulders. Fearless. Unbending steel…something to be reforged.

She recalled the  _pull_ , the man muttering a ward for evil…observed how skinny the other girl was. There was nothing here for her, to the point that she was willing to come with a vampire just for a change of pace, for…for  _something_.

…Very well then, she thought. She would trust what fate had in store for her.

Because to do otherwise would be so  _boring_.

“Is…Is something the matter…?”

“No,” Remilia replied with an immediate smile, hands folded beneath her chin. “Just thinking. Now, about your name…”

…What  _was_ she going to call her? The vampire glanced at the night sky thoughtfully before her gaze dropped down onto the flower the girl was still holding.

Yes, she decided. That would work.

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a gift to the spectacular Sophia! Happy (early) Birthday!


End file.
